All Day and All of the Night

NATE

Being in the Grounds again is more difficult than Nate had actually expected. The more time he spends here, the more morose he grows, with nothing to take the dark tangle of emotions out on. Perhaps it's the place, perhaps it's the season, it's impossible to say, but Nate needs to spend a day hiding, a day mourning. He doesn't want to be alone though, his own mind the worst kind of company.

Obviously, the VlamVloed is the best place to loiter in. He's staying in the bar anyway, the secret rooms below it a home away from home away from home. And with a few knives and a small selection of wood before him, the chances of him being interrupted seem minimal, though the ill intentions his everything might allude to are proven wrong as he begins to pick away at the wood, some rough, whorling shape beginning to take form.

For a while, it seems as if his plan is working, and no sooner does that thought enter his head than his hand slips, sending the blade he'd been reaching for scattering to the ground. With a heavy sigh, he set his half-formed project on the table and rises, all but struggling against the weight on his shoulders.

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

Anden

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

Dani wouldn't approve. Anden knew that if Dani knew he was still visiting the bar every few nights she might question him. When Anden was around the other outlander he felt more at ease, a little happier than the usual. But she wasn't cursed... No that wasn't the right word, she wasn't an ascended like he was. Dani was free to explore in the days while Anden sulked about in the manor alone. She didn't have to see Anden when he was at his lows, and he didn't intend on letting see that. Anden didn't want Dani to see his darkness.

Even still, every few nights he would himself walking to Vlam Vloed instead of exploring the world outside of the Grounds. Maybe it was the feeling of being included. Anden looked around the bar, with the sickness gone more and more people seemed to be coming. Or maybe he came for the booze that left him feeling empty.

One thing was for certain - he didn't come to the bar to almost get hit with a flying knife.

Anden blinked at the blade that raced along the floor. That was a familiar sight, bringing a half smile to the outlanders face. Before Caido, it wasn't uncommon for the adventurer's to have bar fights in his family's tavern. In was instinct that led Anden to stepping on the blade. Claiming ownership of the metal. He looked around for the owner of the blade, ready to tell them to leave. If they couldn't keep a grip of their blade - the bar certainly wasn't the place for them.

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

NATE

Tired eyes follow the skittering path the blade takes across the floor, Nate on his feet, but not bothering to follow after the tool, not yet. It doesn’t go as far as he expects though, stopped by a boot, and above it, wonder of wonders, a leg. A mismatched gaze follows the leg all the way up, growing slower the further up he gazes, until he lands on a surprisingly stern face.

Arranging his face into a winning grin, Nate rises, stepping towards the stranger. Natural charisma helps to make up for the ugly scar spanning his face, framed by hair that he reaches up to push back. ”Looks like I should be more careful, huh?” He jokes, though there’s a shadow behind his eyes.

If he can just get through this one interaction, Nate can go back to his whittling. He can put on a bright face and a warm voice, and then nope again. ”I can take that back now though.” Theres nothing but warm persuasion in his voice, a suggestion that he won’t take no for an answer. Already, his hand is outstretched, waiting for the blade to be returned.

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

Anden

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

One man approached. His face scarred, yet hidden behind a smile. Anden eyed him carefully. The tattoos, the scar, the way the man held himself there wasn't a doubt this was the owner of the blade. Anden carefully slid the knife with his foot further behind himself.

"Definitely could afford to be a little more careful." He wasn't sure what to do next. He scanned the bar, it didn't look like anyone was here with the man - but from the looks of him, Anden wasn't certain he was someone he should get in a fight with either. Alina was far more petite and she easily bested Anden.

Anden's eyes locked onto the outstretched hand. He wasted no time. Anden had seen these types of guys all the time back home. They seemed tough because they were hiding something - it was the Grounds though, and everyone was hiding something. Anden reached down picking up the blade. He let it dance in his hand, feeling its weight. It was lighter than he'd expect. "How do I know you won't hurt someone with this? Who brings a knife to a bar anyways. That was a stupid question Anden realized. Moving the knife behind his back. "Tell you what, we can make a trade." Anden offered, thought looking into the mans eyes, he wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

"Promise to show me how you use this one day. And its all yours." Alina's advice to find someone to train him with a blade rang through his mind. It wasn't as big as a sword but the lighter weight made it feel right.

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

NATE

It is with only the mildest tremor of annoyance that Nate watches his knife slip further away, hidden by the strangers boot and suspicious eyes. On one hand, he gets it; he looks suspicious and dangerous and honestly? Nate wouldn’t give himself a knife back either.

The other hand though, is a clenched fist of simmering irritation suddenly threatening to boil over.

”Guess my mind must have been somewhere else.” The words are pleasant enough, as long as you ignore the new sharpness in Nate’s face, the sudden unblinking intensity of his eyes. A shrug rolls across his shoulders, that play at a casual conversation, but it cracks as he lets out a short humourless laugh. ”Blade like that doesn’t do a lot of damage. If I’m gonna hurt someone, wouldn’t I make it worth my while?” He’s just about to gesture back towards his table, the half formed hunk of wood and the reason for this particular temper when the stranger suggests a trade.

It’s surprising enough that whatever was on the tip of Nate’s tongue dies (‘This is my fucking place kid, I’ll bring whatever I want in here’) and he instead just stares, face twisting into a sharp sneer, at least until he’s stopped in his tracks again by the proposal.

A deep laugh leaves Nate, all traces of irritation leaving him. ”Thats bold kid.” He manages between chuckles. ”You know what? You got yourself a deal.” And to seal it, Nate grabs the strangers hand tightly and shakes it, tugs him over towards his table. ”You drinking?” It’s a cursory question, before the ascended steps away to bar, suddenly in far better spirits.

If Anden were to turn and watch him, he’d see Nate step behind the bar without hesitation, grabbing a bottle that promised a lot of things in a language not of Caido, and stepping back to his table with two glasses, one of which he sets in front of the stranger and fills full. ”So. What’s your story? Who made you the bouncer round here?”

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

Anden

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

The force of the man's pull, led Anden back to the table where the man was sitting. Who did he think he was?

Something about the stranger seemed odd to Anden. The way he moved about the place, without a care. Acting as if he owned the joint. It bothered Anden. The outlander growled when Nate called him a kid. Is that how people here saw him, just some kid?

Anden slipped the blade out of sight, while the man prepared drinks. He eyed the glass in front of him carefully. Opting to take the glass Nate set infront of himself instead. Taking a swig of the drink, he returned it to the table. "Are you going to pay for that or?" Anden knew the kind of man Nate was, they saw everything as their own, and cared little for boundaries.

His eyes locked onto Nate's. "No story that's any of your business. Just a guy looking out for the little guys." Anden knew from experience that it was no easy feat running a bar. "Wasn't going to let you ruin one of the few places in the Grounds I can find peace."

Anden danced his fingers along the tabletop. "I think you should probably go, before you cause a scene." Anden decided, regaining his confidence that he lost ever since he arrived in Caido.

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

NATE

Much to his renewed irritation, his knife is once again out of sight when he returns to the table, the bottle and glasses clinking as he sets them down, fills them. Anden swaps their glasses, for whatever reason, but it makes no difference. The same imagined burn sits in both glasses, and Nate sips his slowly, letting it sit in his hand while he considers the question.

Really, he’s trying to decide if he should be a brat about this or not. There is a little part of him that wonders how far the other man will go in his little crusade. At least someone is keeping an eye out on this place.

He has to laugh though, at the strangers care, as if Nate were the worst the VlamVloed had ever seen. ”I think she can take the one bottle.” Tipping the rest of his glass in his mouth, the doctor sets his glass back on the table and shifts, rolling his shoulders as he straightens, works his jaw.

”Oh, is that what you think?” Theres a savage grin on Nate’s face, an excitement sparking in the very careful way he arranges himself, close enough to at ease that he could sink back down, but absolutely prepared to move. ”You think I should leave my bar?” Nate’s chin tips up, a challenge offered out to the other man, a what now?

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

Anden

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

This is why. This is why Anden had lost his courage. This world was unfamiliar. He didn't know enough about Caido, or the Grounds - or even VlamVloed to speak his mind. It was the grin that gave it away. The smirk of a man who can not lose.

Anden sunk further into the chair. It wasn't the stranger who was making an ass of themselves. No, it was Anden himself. Telling the owner of the bar to leave. Anden wanted nothing more than to fade into nothing and leave the bar, but he had come so far. His pride, what little he had couldn't be loss over something so dumb. No, he had to respond, he had to challenge him. But how? Anden had no leverage in this situation.

He knew the moment the plan formed in his head that he would regret. Nothing good would come from it, but he couldn't just let this dispute end with a loss. The stranger had no right to be so smug. Anden stood tall, leaving his seat. He took a proud stride away from Nate.

Pulling the knife from its hiding place he taunted Nate with it. "So first its your blade, and now its your bar too huh?" Anden eyed Nate with intent. "If you want it so badly, then catch!"

Anden secreted his sticky substance from the palm of his hand. The dagger attaching itself to his hand. With a quick flick of his wrist he made it seem as though he was going to throw the dagger directly at Nate. The goo kept the dagger firmly in its place however. Maybe everyone was right afterall, he wasn't entirely cursed by The Voice.

He gave a smirk at Nate. Two could play this game... Anden only hoped Nate wasn't the type to hold a grudge because judging by his size, there was no way Anden would win in a fair fight. "Just kidding." Anden offered the dagger towards Nate. "Evens?"

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

NATE

As soon as the man stands, Nate feels disappointment drop in his gut, his grin falling just enough to be noticed. Mismatched eyes watch Anden, head cocking to the side as he tried to figure out what the angle was here. If there even was an angle. But his blade makes a reappearance, it's purpose obvious a half-second later.

There is a split second risk assessment, a breath where Nate considers the chances that this is some kind of bluff, where he considers not moving. A far more sensible part of him has him shifting to one side in his chair, his brows lifted with a kind of intense surprise. He expects to feel the dull thud of the blade hitting something, or at least to hear the thunk of it biting into the wood instead, but nothing comes, the threat still held safely in Anden's hand.

Nate stares, licks his lips as he considers this newest turn of events, the grin on his face replaced by a stiff set of his jaw. A long, tense moment passes, before his jaw shifts almost imperceptibly, and Nate finds himself nodding, the grin slowly returning. "That's a pretty neat trick." He offers, standing to take his knife back the moment it's offered, and settling it in his little whittling project.

With the knife taken care of, Nate offers his hand instead, no room for refusal in the gesture yet again, though this time it seems to be a touch less overbearing. "Honestly, I should be thanking you. I, we were a little worried about this place. What's your name, anyway?"

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

Anden

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

Whatever stress had built up in his body had started to fade, as soon as Nate stabbed the blade back into the chunk of wood on the table. Anden closed his eyes from relief. That could have ended very, very different.

Anden grabbed hold of Nate's hand and gave it a quick shake. Nate... He was still smug, but maybe he wasn't entirely an ass. Anden let go of Nate's hand, wiping the rest of his ooze off on his pants. "Sorry." He pointed at some of the goo that was transferred to Nate's hand. "Name's Anden."

Anden returned to his seat. "No problem. Happy to help when I can." So Nate owned the bar. Which means he's from the Grounds, but this was the first time Anden had seen Nate. It wasn't like Anden was a stranger to the bar. "Someone needs to look out for the finer things in life. Anden raised his glass to offer a small toast.

What was even more curious was that Nate said 'we'. Was there another owner somewhere in the bar he should be aware of, before making an ass of himself a second time. But that was a thought for another time. "What brings you out of your hiding hole?"

The Sun and the Moon
In an endless game of hide and seek

NATE

Nate stares at the goo smeared on his hand for a moment, something perfectly straddling the line between curiosity and disgust curling on his face before he reaches out to scrape his hand clean on the edge of the table. "I'm Nathaniel. Nate, if we're going to be friendly." And he leaves it for Anden to decide if they are or not, sitting back down and resuming his unblinking stare.

"Good man." Nate grins, slow cogs turning in his head as he looked over Anden again, seeming to consider him a little more carefully this time. "I'm not sure anyone could do worse than what she's already been through, unless they really hated us." There's a snort of laughter, mismatched eyes rising to look past Anden at the bar, at the fractal lightning scorches that still marred the wood.

Nate considers his glass, swirling the amber liquid around before he downs it, wishing, not for the first time, that it would just burn like he wanted it to as it goes down. "Here for uh, business, mostly. God shit, you know?" It's been a while since Nate has been in the Grounds, long enough that he has utterly no frame of reference for when Anden's arrived, but he knows a constant in Caido is God shit.

With his glass empty again, Nate leans back, pulls his block of wood closer to him, and begins to peel away scraps of it again, the rough shapes he'd carved out initially growing finer, more detailed.

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

ANDEN

CHASING THE SUN

Nate.

Anden wasn't sure if he had heard the name before. As big as Caido was, many of the names he'd heard time and time again. He had started to realized there were certain people he'd want to avoid if he wanted a peaceful existence here. He thought briefly of Wessex, and the countless times the Queen had poked inside his head. Anden hoped he'd never face her.

There was an awkward silence between the pair. Each eying the other over. Sitting closer to Nate, Anden could see the scars along his body. He knew it was pointless to ask where they came from - Caido wasn't a safe place. People fought, people died, and people were left scarred on the daily.

"Business? Isn't this," Anden loosely motioned around at the bar. "Your business? Why would you ever need to leave?" Anden believed that Nate was the owner of VlamVloed's, but he was still concerned about why he'd never seen him until now. Why would an owner just up and leave their bar? Was Nate haunted by the Longnight like the others?

Anden resigned from asking more questions. Choosing to watch Nate as he carved away at the block of wood. Before Caido, Anden would chop wood, but he never carved it. Wood represented fire, which represented life. It was something he could afford to turn into art. Still, he was curious. What was Nate working on? "Is everyone in the Grounds a secret artist?"

NATE

There’s no way of knowing if his name is familiar, though Nate would very much doubt that it was, in the same way he doubts that his face is familiar, despite the rather obvious scar slashed across his features. This is not a part of the world he comes to often, not one he's been to in far too long.

Nate grins wide, tips his head back in a short bark of laughter. ”This is just one part of business.” The one they paid the least attention to, if he were honest, though rumblings in the world seemed to indicate that that was to be changing, the Grounds growing more relevant in whatever back and forths the Gods are playing at. ”Theres the VlamVloed, the Kraai, in Halo, and the Slagveld, back home in Torchline. They’re all Sunny’s babies, but hey-“ Fingers tap along the table beside his glass, the gold wedding band thinking dully. ”perks of marriage, right?”

For all his bluster earlier, Anden is quiet, leaving Nate to get a bulk of work done, simple wood transforming into a five faced lantern, careful slots put on every facet so he can slide in some coloured glass. ”Artist?” Hands pause as Nate laughs again, shaking his head. ”I’m not an artist. This is just... a memorial, I guess. Nothing impressive.”

Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me

ANDEN

CHASING THE SUN

Everything about Nate was entrancing. The man had an air of mystery about him that made Anden want to know more. "So you have plenty of inns across Caido then?" Anden knew from Oliver that it was easy to travel to the major hubs in Caido through the portals, but he never thought people used it so often. The limits in Caido seemed to not exist.

Sunny. That was definitely a name he would remember. "Is Sunny as heavy of a drinker as you then?" A married man. That part about Nate was perhaps the most shocking. Nothing about the man screamed married, if Anden wasn't so oblivious he may have thought they were flirting. "Are the other inns as... exciting as this one? Anden asked looking around the not-so-packed business.

"Who are we drinking to then?" He pointed towards the wooden lantern. Everyone in the Grounds seemed to have their own secrets, or tragic stories. It didn't surprise him that Nate had some of his own. "Sorry though. I know things can be rough sometimes."

He moved his hand, rubbing the wood between his fingers. It was smoother than he expected. For something that Nate had only just started on it was shaping up to be exceptional. Turning his attention back to the band on Nate's finger. "And they're ok with you coming up to the land of the unwanted alone?"